Google Play store vs iTunes | Movies, Shows and Music

iTunes or Google Play Store which is better for Movies, TV Series and Music

Hello guys, in this article of mine, i will compare the 2 giants of the entertainment and technology ecosystem, iTunes and Google Play Store. It may not be the easiest task to compare these two benchmark services, as comparing these 2 brands is like comparing 2 religions, but anyways lets give it a try!

Also this article is not about the overall comparison (which is kind of impossible), instead i’ll be focusing only on quality and quantity of the media services (Movies, TV Shows and Music), provided by these two. So lets start with the Rent or Buy Service.

Buy and Rent Movies and TV Shows

Both Google Play Store and iTunes provide their user, the convenience to buy or rent movies and TV shows, on their respective platforms. Both the services provide ample of content to their users, to select from. Lets talk about each of them separately.

iTunes

The online digital library or catalog of iTunes around 40K+ movies , more than 10 thousand TV shows!!. The service provides both recent and old titles of Movies an TV shows. Some of the ongoing TV series are also available, the next day they are aired on their respective networks. So in terms of media content, iTunes is way ahead than any other service, in its niche.

You can easily purchase any movie or TV show from iTunes, by simply logging through your iTunes account. There is also an option to rent the content, which gives you the access of that particular item for 30 days, and 24 hours once you get started.

Google Play Store

When it comes to numbers, Google does not reveal the actual quantity of media content it possess, which certainly doesn’t mean it is any less (it might be slightly lesser then iTunes). Like iTunes Google Play Store also provides ample of TV shows and movies to its users. Google also showcase the latest and ongoing titles of TV shows in its library.

Likewise iTunes you can straight away buy your desired content or you can rent it and save some money, for either way, you just need to log in the portal and select your stuff. You can access you rented content within 30 days after you rent it and 48 hours, once you get started.

Prices

When it comes to price, both of the services, ask almost similar amount. Most of the standard definition (SD) movies are available for around $4 for rent and around $15 to own, on the other hand, for high definition (HD) prices go upto $5 to rent and $25 to own.

For TV shows, user have to pay and for entire series, prices may go upto $30 to 40 per season. Although the prices are not fixed, for both movies and TV shows, and they may depend upon several other factors like popularity, age etc.

Accessibility of Service and Content

Both the services comes with sleek and intuitive interface, which is quite easy to use. Google Play Store can be accessed by both, an android supporting device or a web browser, while iTunes is accessible through iTunes app only.

On more worth noticing thing is that, Android devices does not support iTunes application, as it is not available in the Google Play Store. On the other hand, Apple devices support the Google Play Movies and TV app, but there are some restrictions on this.

Apple users can only stream or watch the preexisting content which is present on their account, which means the cannot buy or rent the content with the help of Google Play Movies and TV app and in order to do so, they have to use the the web browser.

Content Accessibility

Another thing i want to mention here is that, iTunes user can only watch their content on their Apple or iOS devices while Google Play users can watch it anywhere they want, by logging in their account from any browser. Google play users can also stream their content on iTunes on an Apple device, although they cannot buy content from iOS.

With Google Play Store you can directly stream a movie or TV Show as soon as you buy or rent it, while in iTunes, first you have to download the full movie or episode, then only you can start watching it (except with Apple TV you can directly stream anything).

Google Play music Vs iTunes

Apart from all the movies and TV shows, both of these services also serve a lot of music. Both the services have infinite number of tracks in their library, which you can enjoy for years, without any repetition.

iTunes

iTunes has Apple Music service with a bazillion no of tracks. The service costs $9.99 per month individually, while there is also a family plan which costs $14.99. With this Family plan you can add upto 6 family members (six devices), you can also share your play list with your family with iCloud service, which is free.

iTunes also give you curated playlists, and radio channels, with unlimited skips and rewinds, which is quite amazing feature for music lovers.

Google Play Music

Likewise Google Play Store also have a separate app for music, which is Google Play Music. Along with its massive songs library, Google Play Music also allows its users to upload upto 50,000 songs. Google play Music also cost $9.99 per month. There is also an offline mode for which you have to down load songs separately.

Google also offers family plans and that too, with similar price as Apple music ($14.99). You can share you plan with five members of your family. But here’s the catch, you will get a free You Tube Red membership for free along with this pack (which normally costs around $9.99 alone ).

Competition

Although these services are doing great in their niche, but there are other services in the market which are offering tough competition to them. Online streaming services like Netflix, Hulu plus, Amazon Instant Videos are some of them. While Netflix and Hulu Plus are quite different form them as they offer online streaming for whole of their content on a monthly subscription.

Amazon

Amazon is the service which offer the similar kind services and is the biggest rival in the market. Along with Buy or Rent service amazon also offers a lot of its content for free streaming. There is also an amazon Prime subscription which offers a lot of movies, TV shows for free streaming, free subscription for Prime Music, and a lot of mouth watering services only in $99 per month. This i think is much better than the prior services.

Spotify for music

When it comes to music streaming, Spotify is the biggest hurdle for both Apple Music and Google Play Music. The service provided by Spotify is exceptional and above all, the service has made its place in many of the music lovers across the world. The interface is magnificent, the features are amazing. Along with its $10/month service, they also provide a free add based service, which is the biggest catch they have.

Which is Better?

I dont think it really matters, which one is better, because your decision will be biased on which device you already have but i one important thing i want to mention here is, if you are a Apple household, then iTunes is pretty good for you, while if you are interested in diversed technology or devices, then you should choose Android.

Thats all folks! if you have any other problem regarding this subject, you can leave your comment below. I will try my best to help you.

Also, if you think I m missing something, then do remind me with your comments. Your opinion is very important for us 🙂